Last year, UK punk / new wave group The Boys went to tour China in support of their new album, Punk Rock Menopause, only to discover upon arrival that the tour had been canceled by the Chinese Ministry of Culture on the grounds of “crowd control and security issues.” In spite of the cancellation, the band managed to play a handful of underground shows, promoted entirely by word-of-mouth, while also giving multiple interviews and recording some in-studio sessions for the Chinese show The Sound Stage.

The band’s performances of “I’m a Believer” and “Brickfield Nights” from those sessions are now available to watch online, and you can check them out below.

The Boys released Punk Rock Menopause on June 20, 2014. They also recorded a live album during their canceled tour, appropriately titled Undercover – Live in China, which was released in September 2015. You can purchase both albums here.

Band Spotlight

So technically this is a little bit more of a "re-introducing" spotlight piece as Belgium's Chump actually got their start around 2001. They kicked around the scene for a bit until 2005 then disappeared. Until now. Pulling influences from exactly where you'd expect a European punk act from 2001 to pull from, Chump isn't reinventing the wheel when it comes to melodic skate punk, but they are churning it out with passion and talent, doing the sub-genre serious justice. Give their new EP "Welcome To The Punk Rock Family" here - it's got one of the best instrumental, intro tracks I've heard this year.